Hoping to learn from struggle, FHS girls fall to defending state champ Bradley
Farragut High School girls basketball head coach Jason Mayfield couldn’t find any explanations after his squad was routed by defending Class AAA state champion Bradley Central late last week.
“I don’t know what you say after a night like this,” Mayfield said after his Lady Admirals came up on the short end of a 50-25 decision against the Bearettes Friday night, Dec. 20, in the 5-Star Basketball Classic in FHS’s Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium.
“With the holidays coming up, we can learn from this. We’re obviously a level lower than where we thought we were, and they’re a state championship type of team for a reason.”
“Jason has a better team than they showed tonight, and they didn’t shoot well,” said Bradley Central head coach Jason Reuter, whose team improved to 8-2. “But our girls had something to do with that.”
The Lady Admirals (11-2) got off to a rough start, scoring just 12 points over the first 16 minutes of the contest and committing 13 turnovers in the first half.
“I know we had double-digit turnovers in the first half, and we probably had double digits (in turnovers) in the first quarter,” Mayfield said. “And you’re not going to beat anybody when you play like that.”
The Lady Admirals were 5-for-17 from the floor in the first half.
Bradley Central, meanwhile, had no trouble scoring early, as the Bearettes’ inside duo of Anna Muhonen and Anna Walker combined to score 21 points before halftime. Muhonen had 14 of her 16 points in the first half while Walker had seven of her game-high 19 points before the break.
“”Their post players are really good, and I don’t think anybody is going to be able to hang with them,” Mayfield said.
“Defense is our calling card and that’s what we hang our hat on,” Reuter said. “We didn’t shoot well tonight. Imagine what it would’ve been like if we would’ve shot 44 percent, we would’ve beaten them by 40.”
Claire Wyatt, senior post/wing, scored eight points to pace Farragut’s offense. Macy Barnes, junior guard, had seven for the Lady Admirals.
